Monday, October 13, 2008

another idea for a booktalk

I think it would be fun to do a booktalk about a book that was also made into a movie. During the booktalk I could show a clip of the movie. After they finished reading the book we could watch the movie during the school day or they could watch the movie on their own at home. Wait a minute - what about copyright?? Do I need public performance rights? In our textbook Copyright for Schools by Carol Simpson on pages 75 and 76 Simpson explains fair use for audiovisuals with 5 questions. "1. nonprofit educational" : Yes, both uses would be nonprofit. "2. classroom or similar place": Yes, both uses would take place in the library which is considered a "similiar place". "3. instructors and pupils": Yes, both uses would be just the members of one class and the librarian. "4. legally acquired copy": Yes both uses would be with a legally acquired copy of the movie. "5. face-to-face teaching activities": I think we might be able to make a case for fair use for the clip of the movie during the booktalk but I'm not sure we can make a case for fair use for showing the whole movie. Simpson says "this factor of AV fair use is generally the most difficult to meet because this is where Congress states that they expect to see the direct teach piece in the analysis. In other words, the display of the work must be related to the lesson at hand, not simply related to some type of lesson past or a lesson to come." Simpson gives us this question to keep in mind when deciding fair use: "Is this an integral part of the unit I am teaching right now?". I think for the clip of the movie that I would show during the booktalk, it could be considered fair use and I could show the clip without public performance rights. I think though for showing the whole movie I would need public performance rights because I don't think it would stand up for the test of the "face-to-face teaching activities". What do you think?

Now if I decided to have a book club after school and decided to do the booktalk and movie during the club, I think I would need public performance rights for both showing the clip of the movie during the booktalk and showing the movie after everyone had read the book. Both uses wouldn't stand up to the fair use assessment #3 about being a class and #5 about being part of a lesson.

I would think towns would have to get public performance rights to show movies. The first time I heard of public performance rights was when I worked at a public library. The library needed public performance rights in order to show movies at the library.

I think you have a great idea with booktalks. It seems you have asked yourself the important questions to make sure your idea doesn't violate copyright law. I think if you showed the video later that you would need public performance rights.